John Armstrong Art

Brown Abstract (6), Oil on Canvas Painting by John Armstrong 1893-1973, 1965 Literature/Press Andrew Lambirth, 'John Armstrong: The Complete Paintings, Catalogue Raisonne', London: ...

Painted by "Modern British" Surrealist artist John Armstrong this oil/tempera on board depicts Pavanne. The Pavanne is a 17th century Court dance. The figures bunch up rhythmically and are almost camouflaged in the darkness, almost invisible. Quite what the significance in 1944 of this historical subject is, we are not sure, but the dark overtones in the shadowy large figures with golden head and glowing hands make it quite a mystical work. It is an almost Surreal Modern British artwork and a very interesting painting. The work is painted by a very rare to find artist who is highly sought after. The painting was dirty when purchased. However since cleaning the 80 years of dirt away it has revealed the stunning figure group with their heads and golden hands and the signature and date in the lower right. A real gem of a painting has been revealed with the restoration clean. It is an important early British Surrealist work and has excellent provenance. Signed and dated 1944 lower right. Provenance. Alex Reid / Lefevre Galler 1945. Condition. oil/tempera on board, 34 inches by 20 inches unframed and in good condition. Housed in its original fine gallery frame, 43 inches by 29 inches framed and in good condition. John Rutherford Armstrong ARA (1893-1973) was a British artist and muralist who also designed for film and theatre productions. He is most notable for the Surrealist paintings he produced. Armstrong was born in Hastings in Sussex. His father was a clergyman and Armstrong was educated at St. Paul's School in London. He studied law at St. John's College, Oxford, but switched to art and became a student at St John's Wood Art School throughout 1913 and 1914. Armstrong served with some distinction in the Royal Field Artillery in Salonika during World War One before returning briefly to complete his studies at St John's Wood Art School. After a period of some economic hardship, Armstrong began to build a career as a theatre designer in London and to gain a client base for his artworks. He received a commission to decorate a room in the Portman Square home of the art collector Samuel Courtauld, and also painted a frieze for the ballroom at 1 Kensington Palace Gardens. Armstrong held his first solo exhibition in 1928 at the Leicester Galleries in London. In 1933 he joined Unit One and displayed a set of semi-abstract paintings at their one, extended, exhibition. Throughout the 1930s Armstrong continued to work as a designer as he also continued to develop his art. He produced a number of remarkable posters for Shell and also produced four posters for the General Post Office. Armstrong designed a number of book covers for the Hogarth Press...

Still Life, Oil on Board Painting by John Armstrong, 1960 Additional information: Medium: Oil on board 11 1/4 x 15 1/8 in 28.5 x 38.5 cm Signed and dated This painting shows Armstrong's earlier career as a theatre designer, with its subjects arranged on a window sill as if actors in a play; the leaf and muntin, painted in a similar tone of green, act as a mid-ground to the autumnal trees outside the Artist's London home. Painted after Armstrong had returned to the city from Lamorna, Cornwall, as a struggling artist, models were too expensive and so he resorted to using fruits and vegetables from his local market. Showing a Cycladic vessel that appears in other works from 1957 onwards, as illustrated in Lambirth's book, including Still life with Mushrooms from 1961. The distinctive brick-like pattern of Armstrong's brushstrokes shines through here. John Armstrong was a painter of imaginative subjects, designer of film and stage sets, mural painter and book illustrator. Born in Hastings, Sussex, John Rutherford Armstrong attended St Paul's School, London, and studied law at St John's College, Oxford, before taking up art at St John's Wood School of Art (1913-14). He served in the Royal Field Artillery (1914-19) before returning to St John's Wood School for a short period after the war. His first one-man exhibition was at the Leicester Galleries in 1928, where he first met members of the Unit One group, joining them for their 1933 exhibition. It was after this that Armstrong's work began to develop a Surrealist character. Much of Armstrong's oeuvre has its foundation in classical legend, landscape, or imagery, surely understandable given his classical education and WW1 service in the Near East. Varied Greek vase forms regularly make an appearance in his work from the mid-1930s, notably in his GPO poster...